Free Republic

I'm going to confess an unpopular opinion (among liberals at least) and say that as much as I enjoy The Daily Show, Jon Stewart is usually not that good an interviewer when it comes to political figures. He's about two-thirds of a good interviewer—there are always some good questions, but he usually misses opportunities to ask critical follow-ups, and when his interviewee is struggling, he'll often jump in with a joke. Which is his job, of course—it's a comedy show, and he's a comedian—but it also has the effect of letting his subject off the hook. Last night though, Stewart...

Much of the 2016 political oxygen on the Republican side of the aisle has been sucked up by establishment-leaning figures so far -- Jeb Bush forming his exploratory committee, Mitt Romney heavily weighing launching version 3.0, Chris Christie making telltale moves, etc. On the more conservative end of the spectrum, we have Bobby Jindal almost assuredly running (do read his hard-hitting speech on radical Islamism delivered in London yesterday), Scott Walker staffing up and sounding like a presidential candidate, and Marco Rubio reportedly inching closer to taking the plunge. And then there's Rand Paul, Mike Huckabee, Carly Fiorina, Ben Carson,...

On Monday, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin blasted Hollywood liberals for denigrating the late Chris Kyle after American Sniper shattered records at the box office over the weekend.

Governor Palin posted the following on her Facebook wall:God bless our troops, especially our snipers. Hollywood leftists: while caressing shiny plastic trophies you exchange among one another while spitting on the graves of freedom fighters who allow you to do what you do, just realize the rest of America knows you're not fit to shine Chris Kyle's combat boots. May the epic "American Sniper" bring nothing but blessings to Taya and the children of this true American hero. Thank you Bradley Cooper and Clint Eastwood for respecting the United States Military. - Sarah Palin PS - Rep. Paul Gosar’s office...

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin wants failed presidential candidate Mitt Romney to get off the stage as Romney, the career candidate, seriously considers a third run White House run.

Governor Palin posted the following passionate message via Facebook: Sarah Palin added 3 new photos. Politician · 4,479,869 Likes · 6 hrs ·  After the atrocious attacks of September 11th, the world unified behind our great nation, stiffened its collective spine, and took a stand against Islamic terrorism. Following last week’s brutal attacks in Paris by Muslims with the same evil terroristic beliefs as the 9/11 savages, today the world came together again against the death cult that is the radical Islamic “faith.” The largest crowd in Paris’ history just proclaimed “Je Suis Charlie” as Germany’s Prime Minister locked arms with the President of France...

Governor Sarah Palin has accepted an invitation to speak at Cambridge Union.  The invite is for Cambridge’s Lent termcard.  The event will be held on March the 2nd, during the Lent observance leading up to Easter Sunday.  2015 marks the 200th anniversary of the Cambridge Union Society. Reflecting on the varied fields of the revealed speakers, Amy Gregg, President of the Union for Lent 2015, commented: “I’m extremely pleased that we have begun our Bicentenary year with such a diverse range of prominent speakers. As ever, the Union strives to offer members the opportunity to engage with some of the world’s most significant and...

It’s been a while since I’ve thought about Sarah Palin, except for the increasingly rare instances where someone says, “You know, with those glasses and that square jaw you look a lot like ...” The ex-Alaska governor/GOP veep candidate/Fox News commentator has fallen off of my radar screen, even though I have absolutely nothing against her and am flattered to be mistaken for a woman who can kill and skin a moose. But every now and then, Sarah re-emerges as a cultural lightning rod, someone whose simple existence still drives feminists to bitter tears and the men who want to...

Democrats for over a century were associated with the American middle class. Working-class voters once believed that Democratic-inspired intervention into the economy – minimum-wage laws, overtime pay, Social Security, Medicare, workers’ compensation – protected their interests better than unfettered free-market capitalism. Republicans often had trouble selling the argument that an unleashed economy and new technology would relegate poverty to a relative, not absolute, condition – something like suffering with a cheap outdated iPhone 4 while the better-off afforded an iPhone 6. Why, then, have Democrats lost the working class – especially white, lower-middle-class voters? There are several obvious reasons. For...

It's all very simple: the Republicans lost Florida in the 2012 presidential election by 0.88. If conservatives stay at home in 2016 in the same numbers as they did in 2012, then there is no chance of the GOP winning. If conservatives are advised by Governor Palin (unlike in 2012) and Mark Levin to either stay home or vote third-party, then it is impossible to see how Florida could be won by, for example, Jeb Bush. However, for argument's sake, if, because of Bush's Florida connection and a bad economy, Florida is won, then Ohio (-2.98%), Virginia (-3.88%), and Colorado...

For parents of a child with Down syndrome, their children figuring out a solution to any problem is a tremendous triumph.My sister stood around the corner and deliberately out of sight, curious to see what her then-14-month-old son, Chaim, was up to. He sat on the kitchen floor, legs spread around the dog’s dish. With a devilish smile, Chaim looked around a couple of times before plunging his bare hands into the bowl and extending it as an offering to his closest friend, Sammy, the family’s poodle mix. My sister, Sheryl, couldn’t have been more delighted. No, she wasn’t fond...

arah Palin is under fire again, and not for her Naughty Monkey shoes. This time it’s because of a post on Facebook showing her six-year-old son Trig, a child diagnosed with Down syndrome, to reach an otherwise out-of-reach countertop, “step, baby, step[ping]” on the back of Jill Hadassa, the family’s black Labrador retriever. Besides the fact that the dog appears totally at ease with the situation and not at all perturbed about providing the elevation barefoot Trig needed to reach the kitchen counter, once again hypocrisy is revealed in feigned outrage when it comes to what’s acceptable and what’s despicable....

On Monday’s “Hannity” on the Fox News Channel, former Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) sounded off on the possible challenges to John Boehner’s speakership later this week. According to Palin, Boehner surrendering that speakership would be appropriate based on his inability to fulfill campaign promises.

On Monday, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin called for House Speaker John Boehner’s (R-OH) ouster and said she is rooting for Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) to replace him. “I love Louie Gohmert,” Palin said on Fox News’s Hannity. “I’ll be rooting for Louie.” Palin said that Boehner, in asking President Barack Obama and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to get Democrats to vote for the CRomnibus spending bill, made a choice to make deals with the far left instead of consulting with conservatives and the base. She said that Boehner is someone who has “gone along just to get...

With the departure of Mike Huckabee, so goes Fox’s most deliciously hokey program. The former Republican Governor of Arkansas announced Saturday that he will end his weekly show to mull another presidential run. Gone are the cringe-worthy “If Hee Haw and the Family Research Council had a baby“-like moments; the surreal musical performances; the televangelical prosthelytizing on a constantly-doomed American culture; and the smarmy warnings that God is fed up with us all. We’ll also never again get the chance to hear a Fox News host deliver this sort of brilliantly awful one-liner: “I’m beginning to think theres more freedom...

As a regular presence on the Fox News Channel for six years, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, 59, hasn’t exactly been hiding in the political shadows. Though he didn’t vie for the presidency in 2012, he’s been regularly airing his conservative and evangelical views on his top-rated weekend show, Huckabee. An outspoken opponent of abortion and gay marriage, this “man of deep faith,” as he calls himself, has also been a presence on weekday radio. Now the ordained Southern Baptist minister is leaving the media lights to consider a possible run for the GOP nomination for the White House in...

The first contest of the 2016 presidential race is only (!) a year away, and like most Americans, I’ve been following the start of what promises to be a verrrry long political season with a mixture of anticipation and dread.. Our process is just so exhausting. In addition to actually doing our civic duty--informing ourselves about the issues and the candidates--we have to expend a ridiculous amount of time evaluating each and every gaffe and controversy, deciding whether a) it's real or ginned up; b) whether we have the energy to take our outrage to the next level; and c)...

Political attacks have really gone to the dogs. They used to have more style and substance. It was considered bad form to just weave an attack out of whole cloth, counting on the fact that the mark was so despised by a segment of society that people would be anxious to believe the worst. It used to be that when you wanted to sling mud at someone whose politics you didn't agree with -- chiefly as a way of making them look bad and yourself look good by comparison -- you'd try to dig up dirt, find a skeleton in...

Defining a politician’s personality, whether positively to build them up, or negatively to tear them down, is a basic rule of politics. Themes can define an image e.g. "Roosevelt's categorization of Al Smith as "The Happy Warrior" or Democrat folklore depicting William Jennings Bryan as "the Great Commoner" are two classic positive examples. On the negative side, Mitt Romney never recovered from being defined as "Mr. 1 percent", nor did John Kerry from being "Mr. Flip Flop." Once a politician is defined (fairly or unfairly doesn't enter into the picture) as say, Rick Perry was as a forgetful ditherer, it...

From the "Mountain out of a Molehill" files comes the story of how outraged the left is over the picture of Trig Palin standing on the family dog. "OUTRAGEOUS!" scream the ninnies on the left: “It’s odd that anyone — let alone a mother — would find it appropriate to post such a thing, with no apparent sympathy for the dog in the photo.” whines PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “Then again, PETA, along with everyone else, is used to the hard-hearted, seeming obliviousness of this bizarrely callous woman.” adds Newkirk, whose organization slaughters kittens. And there was more: She pointed...